Chronology

Chronology

Chronology

John Adams' Legal Career, 1756–1778

This listing includes a few events of general importance in John Adams' legal career,
but it is primarily a chronology of his practice in the courts. Accordingly, each
term of the Inferior and Superior Courts at which he is known to have been active
is listed, with all available information as to the number of his cases there, whether
tried to a conclusion or not. Since the sources are somewhat fragmentary, the information
given is necessarily incomplete and varies in its accuracy from term to term. The
number of Adams' cases at each term variously appears as (1) the number of writs drawn by him; (2) the number of writs served; (3) the number of entries (cases which he entered on the court's docket); or (4) the number of actions (cases in which he was engaged as counsel at any stage). Adams' appearances in other
courts of the Province have ordinarily been listed only when they occurred in cases
printed in the present edition.

The title of each Superior Court action which he is known to have argued to the court
or tried to a jury appears under the term at which it was argued or tried, with his
client's name printed in italics and the result indicated. All cases in which a discontinuance
or default was entered are included in this listing, because these procedural steps
often concealed the argument and decision of a legal question. A few important cases
from other courts have also been listed in this fashion. Those cases printed in the
Legal Papers (Nos. 1–64) are listed in capital letters under the courts to which each document printed in
those cases has been attributed, again with Adams' clients' names italicized. Primary
sources for the chronology include the Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vols. 1–4; the Adams Family Correspondence, vols. 1–2; minute books and files of the several courts; and Adams' docket lists,
Office Book, and other office documents in the Adams Papers. (The reader should, of course, realize that the court terms, although designated
by months—e.g., “March Term”—were not always chronologically coterminous with the
month in question. Thus, cases in the March Term might be heard in April, or even
later.)

1756

August

Signs contract to read law with James Putnam of Worcester for two years.

Attends Continental Congress at Philadelphia. Plays a principal part in measures leading
to the establishment of an American navy, including the composition and publication
of Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United Colonies of North America.